


i wish for the whole truth every time you speak

by avosettas



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dreamtale (Undertale), Dreamtale Nightmare Sans (Undertale), Dreamtale Sans | Dream & Dreamtale Nightmare Sans (Undertale), Dreamtale Sans | Dream (Undertale), Gen, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Self-Hatred, Stream of Consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29077527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avosettas/pseuds/avosettas
Summary: The truth of the matter is that Dream has always cared too much. He’s always wanted to help people, always tried to be their shoulder to lean on. And maybe it makes sense - he’s the guardian of positivity, shouldn’t he want to see others happy?
Kudos: 70





	i wish for the whole truth every time you speak

**Author's Note:**

> vent fic. been in a shitty place tonight so [pats dream] this boy can fit so much projection in him! not to mention it fits my headcanons about him and nightmare anyway so. fuck it.

_Sensitive_ was how Nightmare used to describe him, usually with a teasing lilt to his voice. 

_Delicate_ is probably the word Blue would use, and he would fumble for it before deciding that it’s his least offensive option. 

(It doesn’t really matter what word Ink would use, because usually he either didn’t care or didn’t remember long enough to tread carefully, to think over his jokes before he spoke.)

The truth of the matter is that Dream has always cared too much. He’s always wanted to help people, always tried to be their shoulder to lean on. And maybe it makes sense - he’s the guardian of positivity, shouldn’t he want to see others happy? 

(He isn’t really sure anymore. Sometimes, he kind of wonders what _normalcy_ feels like. Probably nothing like this, though at least now he and his brother are on speaking terms.) 

(One step at a time.) 

And the _sensitivity_ , the _delicateness_ \- those who understand him always have walked on eggshells around him, and part of him hates it. But those things are probably why Nightmare never told him anything. Never asked him for help. 

He still never does, and Dream watches the effects of it now, as his brother trembles and refuses to let Dream touch him. Apologizing all the while, as if his own comfort should be sacrificed for Dream’s _sensitivity_. 

(It makes him want to vomit, but there probably isn’t anything in his false stomach. He’s been avoiding the kitchen, ever since one of Horror’s quips about his own, starving universe made him cry.)

(Simply because it made him think about how _awful_ things could be. No one deserves it.)

(It’s just fucking embarrassing, crying in front of someone and then watching them walk on eggshells around him.) 

And maybe it would make him feel better if he could hold Nightmare in his arms and tell him that everything will be alright, instead of simply encouraging him to match his breathing from a few feet away. And maybe he’s crying, because Nightmare has always been stronger, even if he used to be timid. 

And eventually Nightmare lets him touch him, and so Dream just grabs his shoulder, hoping that with the firmness of his grip, his brother can’t feel his fingers shaking. 

(Nightmare has always been the older brother, the protector. He’s always been stronger.) 

And it fucking hurts when Nightmare apologizes for not letting Dream touch him before. For not letting Dream hold him closer, because of course Nightmare knows he wants to. 

(Because Nightmare knows him better than anyone else in the multiverse, no matter how long they’ve been apart.) 

It hurts so much when Nightmare tells him that it’s because sometimes his brain can’t put two and two together, because even though this is their home universe and now it’s empty aside from the two of them and Nightmare’s motley family and _nothing is the same as it used to be_ -

(Dream can’t lie; his honesty is his worst quality.) 

(But sometimes he misses it. The tree, the village, and Nightmare. Simple things.) 

(Two out of the three, he would burn to the ground if he could.) 

Because even if none of them remain, sometimes his brain still thinks that the hands on him are those of the people who wanted to hurt him and rape him and beat him, Nightmare says. And his voice is breaking in a way Dream has never heard and he has to be strong - 

(But he can’t believe Nightmare hid this from him. When they were children, and once, he came home so late, missing his pants. Dream doesn’t remember what he claimed happened; he remembers that his brother’s pelvis had been wet with river water, and there were fingerprint-shaped bruises on the bone.) 

(He remembers all the times Nightmare had limped his way to the tree, collapsing into an exhausted heap besides Dream with no words spoken.) 

(He remembers noticing strange stains on Nightmare’s clothing, and, once, some kind of strange fluid on his face.)

(He remembers all the times Nightmare had said _It’s nothing, brother,_ and he had believed it, like a fool.) 

And a hand is wiping the tears he didn’t know he started crying, so familiar but so different - Nightmare grew in the time they were apart, his elder brother getting taller and more assertive. And he changed - he’s blind in his right eye, now, and below his scapulae are the roots of his tentacles. And everything is so different and yet so familiar, because Nightmare is the one who needs to be comforted, but Dream is the one getting sympathy. 

(Maybe he’s bitter.) 

He want to bite out the words, accuse his brother -

(Does he think Dream can’t handle this? Does he think Dream is too fragile to hear it?)

(Dream knows, deep in the core of his apple soul, that he is. He’s soft - the trauma of losing Nightmare made him a doormat, something everyone walked over as they went on their merry way.) 

But he doesn’t. And he doesn’t deserve the patience Nightmare gives him. Here they sit - Nightmare, recovering from the dredges of a panic attack, and Dream, finally receiving an explanation for his brother’s childhood behavior. 

Dream shouldn’t be the one crying. 

It’s fine, Nightmare tells him. Taking care of Dream gives him something to focus on other than the residual panic, the receding flashbacks. 

Perhaps selfishly, Dream simply closes his eyes and nods.

**Author's Note:**

> twitter @avosettas


End file.
